The practice of gardening and yard care commonly requires breaking up the surface of the ground along the edges of sidewalks and curbs in order to highlight the edges of a yard. In the prior art, home gardeners have used hand tools, such as hoes, for this purpose. Hoes have been manufactured in an assortment of configurations. Hoes are generally manually operated and include a cutting portion attached to a long handle. By forcing the cutting portion along the ground in one direction, by means of the handle, the cutting portion breaks up the surface of the dirt.
The use of manually-operated garden tools, including hoes, involves exhausting physical labor expended over a great amount of time. As a result, numerous labor-saving power tools have been developed.
One such power tool, the gasoline-engine powered edger, has gained rapid acceptance since its introduction on the market. The edger is used to trim lawns around the edges of sidewalks, curbs and gardens and includes a rapidly rotating flat blade that rotates about a horizontal shaft. The shaft, in turn, is connected to the engine by a belt and pulley system. The entire operating unit is mounted on a mobile frame that is pushed by the operator by means of a handle extending above the rear of the frame. By aligning the plane in which the blade rotates over the portion of the lawn to be edged, and then lowering the blade, the operator can trim the lawn by simply pushing the edger along the path to be edged.
Unfortunately, conventional edging machines are quite difficult to operate along the edges of curbs. Since curbs have a generally curved configuration, it is difficult to manipulate the wheels of conventional edgers so as to properly follow the edge of the curb. In conventional edging machines, the wheels are commonly a foot or more away from the edging blade. On curbs, this distance can mean that the wheels of the edger must be supported on the street in order to properly edge. Alternatively, and typically, the operator of the edging machine will attempt to lift the wheels into the air so that they can approximate the level surface of the curb. In general, existing techniques for edging along curbs are very time-consuming and difficult. Since the edging machine is not properly balanced on curbs, the edging machine can be operated in a hazardous manner. As such, a need has developed for the creation of an edging machine which is particularly adapted for edging lawns along curbs.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an edging machine that is particularly adapted for edging along curbs.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an edging machine that can guide the edger along a surface of a sidewalk or curb.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an edging machine that includes adjustment mechanisms for adjusting the depth of the cut of the edger blade.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be come apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.